


His Reason

by murphystarr



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: bot-fighting headcanon awww yeah
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-17
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-01 22:48:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2790539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murphystarr/pseuds/murphystarr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was only supposed to be a temporary thing. A few fights here and there and the electric company wouldn't have to turn off the lights. And maybe he could get new shoes. That's what Hiro Hamada told himself when he started bot-fighting alongside a notorious trouble maker from his high school, but when the young prodigy finds himself in the middle of an offer he literarily can't refuse, it's up to him to try and pull himself out. All without letting his family find out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I posted this headcanon a while ago (http://bigherosixheadcanons.tumblr.com/post/102383003220/) and I saw that a lot of people were liking it and saying nice things and I was like OMG WHAT IS THIS WHAT DO I DO. So here we go.

_Plip... Plip... Plip..._

Hiro was abruptly torn from sleep when a droplet of water splashed on his forehead for the umpteenth time. Wetness traveled down his face, creating a somewhat steady stream of water that was beginning to pool underneath his face. If he didn’t know any better, he would’ve mistaken it for a puddle of drool. He forced his long eyelashes to part, allowing the darkness of his bedroom to seep into his eyes. He sluggishly looked around the room, half expecting to see the figure of his older brother standing next to him, dripping water on his forehead. It took another drop to encourage Hiro to look up, setting muggy eyes on the source of the problem, and other raindrop. The torrent hitting the windowpane confirmed Hiro’s problem: the roof was leaking. _Again_.

If the situation were any different, Hiro would’ve loved nothing more than to curl back into his nest of sheets and blankets, allowing the pitter-patter of the raindrops hitting his window lull him back to sleep. The fates, however, weren’t in the younger Hamada’s favor that early morning. Small, steady droplets of water continued their journey from the ceiling, successfully landing on face. As they continued to gather and bead on his forehead, Hiro’s patience grew thinner and the idea of sleep seemed to get farther and farther away. He tried covering his face with his blanket in an effort to dry his head, but every exhale made his cotton cave a little more unbearable to settle back into sleep.

He kicked off his covers, relieved as the cold air in their attic bedroom suddenly overtook him. For a brief moment, he was suddenly thankful that Aunt Cass wasn’t up for cranking up the heat that month. He didn’t want to imagine his reaction when his slightly-overheated body met a warmer environment. He lay there for a few moments, twitching his nose every time a drop collided with his face.

He craned his head, barely registering the faint glow that radiated from the paper divider that gave the brothers somewhat of their own room. The alarm clock on his nightstand wasn’t going to ring for another two hours, why would Tadashi be up _this_ early in the morning? Hiro’s brain tried to rack up multiple reasons to answer why his older brother would be up at such a god-awful hour as he kicked his sheets to the foot of his bed. Maybe Tadashi would provide a good enough answer.

“Tadashi,” The preteen mumbled, wiping off the remnants of his rude awakening as he trekked across their attic bedroom. “Tada-nii, why are you up?” He raised a hand, prepared to slide aside the divider. Before he could make contact with the wood, the it slid for him, revealing a disheveled Tadashi. Hiro had to bite his tongue to prevent him from laughing at the state his older brother was in. He was still wearing the clothes that he had worn the day before, except he had opted to replace his sneakers with a pair of neon orange skiing socks. His usually kept hair had resembled the look of a birds nest, as if he had ran his callused hands through it too many times. Dark puddles of sleep deprivation were forming underneath his eyes, and he was beginning to rock a 4:19 am stubble.

Hiro managed to collect himself together as his older brother yawned, palming his eyes in an attempt to rub the exhaustion out of him.

“You’re up early,” Hiro quipped, trying to lighten the mood. Tadashi just shot his younger brother a look.

He grumbled, “Is it still considered ‘early’ if you never went to sleep?”

The preteen gawked at his older brother as he continued to wake himself up. “How are you even functioning?” Tadashi shrugged his shoulders back, letting out an exhausted groan.

“Apparently, my grades mean more to my professors than the amount of sleep I get.”

Hiro hummed disapprovingly. Tadashi had promised his younger brother that he would go to sleep as soon as he finished his research paper for his History of Robotics class, but judging from the calamity of his desk, he had most likely finished that paper hours ago. He had overheard his older brother gripe to their aunt about the academic rigor that his first year at SFIT was putting him through. How high school classes were a walk in the park compared to college courses, how much was expected out of him, and that he wished he could still go to bed at a reasonable hour. Aunt Cass had just poured him another cup of tea, telling him that freshman year was always the hardest, and reassured him that he would eventually find a schedule that worked for him.

That was in the beginning of September. It was now reaching mid-October, and Tadashi could count times he went to bed before midnight on his fingers. SFIT was draining him, he was being challenged in ways he had no idea was possible, but he was loving every minute of it. Minus the irregular sleep schedule.

Tadashi let out a breath he had no idea he was holding, and looked down at his little brother, trying to manage a reassuring smile.

“I’ll be okay. Why are _you_ up though? You finished everything yesterday.”

Hiro just pointed to his ceiling, where the droplets were starting to drop on his bed at an alarming rate.

“The roof’s leaking again.”

Tadashi let out a soft curse as he strode over to Hiro’s side of the room, stepping onto his bed. “Turn the light on, will you? I can’t see anything.”

Hiro reluctantly obeyed. He flicked the switch on, illuminating the room in a harsh, fluorescent light; too harsh for four in the morning. Both brothers let out a low hiss, but slowly let their pupils adjust to the sudden change in light. Tadashi inspected the ceiling further, letting out a low groan at the dark ring that was starting to form above Hiro’s bed.

“I don’t get it,” he griped, “I _just_ fixed the roof last week!”

“Maybe some shingles got loose,” Hiro interjected with a yawn. “The weatherman said it was going to storm hard tonight.”

The eldest brother let out a huff through his nostrils. “I highly doubt it.” He ran a hand through his already tangled locks. “In the meantime,” he hopped off the bed. “We’ll just have to make do with what we can.”

Hiro watched his brother as he slid his socks off, slightly cringing as his warm feet made contact with the cold hardwood. He gripped Hiro’s bed, successfully pulling it away from the window, and from the faulty hole in the ceiling. He put a clean trashcan underneath the drips, smiling proudly to himself as the water was captured in the bucket, resonating with an annoying _plink_.

“I’ll talk with Aunt Cass in the morning about this,” Tadashi said as Hiro tucked himself back into bed. He switched the light off, then stumbled back to his unusually messy workspace. Hiro propped himself on his elbows, watching as his older brother collapsed into his work chair. He jiggled his computer mouse to resonate his computer from sleep mode.

“How much longer are you going to be up?”

Tadashi didn’t look away from his computer, his face illuminating slightly from the glow. He cracked his knuckles, then began typing away at his keyboard. “It’s gonna be another all-nighter, bud.”

Hiro opened his mouth to protest, but his older brother held up a hand in an attempt to silence him. “Don’t even try to stop me. I have too much to do.”

“You promised me that you’d go to bed as soon as your paper was finished.”

Tadashi sheepishly grinned at his brother, craning his head slightly. “About that... I haven’t started yet?”

“What?!” Hiro cried out, but was immediately shushed by his elder brother.

“It’s just that I completely forgot this coding assignment for my Computer Science class, and I have stuff for Biomechanics as well. And don’t get me started on Calculus... But,” Tadashi sleepily rubbed his eyes, “I _will_ go to bed as soon as my paper’s done, I can promise you that.”

Hiro would've gone on a rampage. He would’ve shut Tadashi’s computer off and forced him to bed with all the strength an eleven-year-old could muster. He would’ve sat on his older bother until he had fallen asleep, better six hours late than not at all, right? That’s what Tadashi would’ve done. But Tadashi had six years, a black belt in karate, and the stubbornness of an ox against him. There was no way he could persuade his older brother, so he just settled for grumbling and pulling his damp sheets around him in a cocoon fashion.

“You’re such an idiot...”

“Love you too, Hiro.”

* * *

Hiro had beaten Tadashi to breaking the news about the roof to Aunt Cass. The eldest Hamada was still in the shower when Hiro had made the trek downstairs for breakfast, where his aunt had prepared him what she called “The Ultimate Hunger Buster”, when in reality it was just scrambled eggs and turkey bacon between two pieces of buttered toast.

“What?!” Aunt Cass screeched once Hiro told her about his ceiling. “ _Again_?!”

Hiro nibbled at the edge of his toast, nodding in affirmation. “Yep. I think some shingles got loose or something. It’s not that bad, it just gets annoying after a while.”

“Annoying is right way to put it,” Cass moaned, “There could be mold up there for all we know! Who knows what’ll happen next?! It could collapse on itself and crush you in your sleep!”

“I think we’ll be fine, Aunt Cass.” Hiro and Cass turned their heads to see Tadashi traveling down the steps, freshly shaven and clean, not at all looking like he had been awake for over 36 hours. With his favorite satchel on his shoulder and his usual hat on his head, he looked completely fine, but Hiro knew better.

_Perhaps it’s the caffeine talking_ , he thought to himself as Tadashi tousled his hair as he passed by him, making a beeline for the coffee pot. He pulled his favorite San Fransokyo Ninja’s thermos out of the sink, quickly inspected it, then began to clean the inside.

“I’ll go on the roof sometime and check the damages. I doubt that it’s _that_ bad, but I’ll try and fix the leak.”

“Oh, honey,” Cass started, “You don’t need to do that. I’ll call Ansel later on, see if he can come out and take a look. You have mid-terms in a bit, don’t you?”

The neighborhood handyman, and a Lucky Cat regular. He was a good person, Hiro liked him enough, but the thought of an 82 year-old man on the slanted roof was enough to scare Hiro out of his wits, for the old man’s sake.

“I’ll make time,” Tadashi mumbled, filling his thermos to the brim with coffee. “We don’t need to waste money on things like that.”

He was suddenly jabbed in the side by Cass’ bony elbow, making Hiro’s eyebrows rise in question. They exchanged a brief stare down, before Cass went on again.

“We wouldn’t, ‘waste money’,” their aunt air quoted as Tadashi rubbed his sore side, “Ansel loves us! I’m sure he’d give us a good deal if we told him what was going on. I’m sure I could throw in some coupons for free coffee-”

“You can’t _pay_ a man with _coupons_ , Aunt Cass!” Tadashi interjected sharply, screwing his thermos shut. “I’m pretty sure that’s illegal!”

“I wouldn’t pay him in coupons! It would be more like... a tactic of persuasion!”

“Again, I’m sure that’s illegal! Why do we need to pay for something I can do myself?!”

The nephew and aunt argued back and forth, while Hiro focused back on his breakfast sandwich, suddenly less hungry than earlier. Tadashi was often like this whenever he didn’t get enough sleep and tried to make up for it with coffee. He was irritable, and more likely to snap at the littlest things. Hiro had gotten yelled at for the stupidest things in the past when Tadashi was in his mood. The most recent one was that morning, when Hiro chose to let his alarm ring for a few extra minutes, and Tadashi had had enough.

Hiro meekly picked up a piece of turkey bacon, then began gnawing at it with his back molars as he listened to his family argue about coupons.

“Tadashi, you’re too busy. I’ll talk to Ansel when he comes by today, end of discussion!”

“No, not end of discussion! You said it yourself, we can’t afford spending any unnecessary money this month!” Hiro perked up the slightest bit, turning his head to see Tadashi’s ears flushing with anger. “I’m not going to watch you spend anymore than we have to! I can easily go on that damn roof and-”

“Swear jar!”

Cass shot a finger to a large mason jar that sat on the counter, nearly half full with a mixture of one dollar bills and colorful paper squares. Tadashi dumbly glared at his aunt before hugging his blazer closer to his body, turning on his heel, breakfast completely forgotten.

“I can’t afford the swear jar today! I only have enough for the trolley! Just... Just write me an IOU!”

Tadashi hurrying down the stairs before Aunt Cass could retort back. Hearing the faint noise of the door slamming, she let out a sigh, and pulled out a pad of colorful papers from the junk drawer.

“That mouth of his... I might as well start charging interest...”

Cass dropped the note into the jar. Hiro could make out “TOU”, Tadashi Owes You, written in his aunt’s chicken scratch. He turned back to his scarcely eaten breakfast, weighing the pros and cons of attempting to choke down the food. He eventually decided against it, and began to sip the glass of orange juice that remained neglected the whole time.

“I’m sorry that you had to hear all of that, sweetie.”

He looked up, the smiling face of his aunt appearing over the brim of his glass. Hiro lowered his gaze back to his food, and allowed his head to be awkwardly hugged. He set down his juice, suddenly not thirsty anymore.

“It wasn’t fair of you to sit through that.” She continued to flow apologies out of her mouth, Hiro half-absorbing them.

“Are... Are we really worrying about money?”

Cass halted herself, releasing her nephew when he released the heavy question. It took her a while to respond, but she eventually pulled up a chair next to him and sat down, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. She raised his chin with her finger, allowing them to look eye-to-eye for what she was about to reveal to him.

“Yes. Yes we are, baby.”

Hiro let out a steady sigh through his nose. He had a good feeling that they were struggling financially for the past few months. They couldn’t crank up the heat like they were usually able to, there were reminders in the bathroom to take shorter showers, and she came back with fewer groceries than usual. She had also been really persnickety about their electronic usage, begging the boys to use the power strips that she had gotten them a few months ago, and to unplug those when they were done with their computers. The signs were everywhere, but was Hiro choosing to ignore them? He couldn’t even remember.

“People aren’t coming into the café as much as they used to anymore. Mr. Mori next door is struggling a bit, too. He claims its the economy and whatnot, everyone’s having a difficult time right now.” She began to parade her fingers thorough his hair, trying to comfort him somewhat. Hiro leaned into his aunt’s touch, grateful for the small head massage. “Tadashi wanted to keep you out of it, he didn’t want you to worry. It’s not fair for a kid to worry about grown up things.”

That sounded like something he would do. Take on more stress and responsibility to allow his younger brother to cling on to whatever shred of childhood he had left. Tadashi had abandoned his role as a child once he graduated middle school, opting to step up to the challenge of becoming the man of the house. He did a pretty good job at it, making sure that Hiro stayed on top of his schoolwork and out of trouble, and repairing their home whenever it faltered. All while balancing his own studies, his position at the café, and maintaining his status as captain of the Matsumoto High Robotics Team. His efforts were rewarded when he graduated as his graduating class’ Salutatorian, with honors in math and science, and a beefy scholarship to SFIT. Aunt Cass had been so proud, and Hiro couldn’t’ve been happier for his older brother.

Was it too much for him?

Were the stress and self-placed expectations finally bubbling over?

“Hiro? You in there?”

His aunt’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. She had stopped her rhythmic petting, choosing instead letting her hand sit on her nephew’s head. He threw his eyes to his aunt, all while giving her a reassuring smile.

“Yeah,” he wiggled away from the hand, “I was just thinking. Not- not about _that_ , if you were wondering.” He had added when her expression melted into worry. Hiro slid out of his chair, leaving his half-eaten meal behind as he went to gather his backpack. Zipping up his favorite hand-me down from Tadashi, Cass handed him his lunch as he toddled over to the staircase.

“Made your favorite.” Hiro took it eagerly, already looking forward to the ham sandwich that he knew was inside. “You have enough for the bus?”

He patted his pocket, four single dollar bills guaranteeing him a roundtrip ride to and from school. He placed a single foot on the declining stairs, not before he felt a vice grip around him.

“Have a good day!”

He patted his aunt’s arm, chuckling at her daily reminder of affection. Before she could engulf him again, Hiro hopped on the banister, choosing to travel downstairs in fashion.

“いってきます!” He cried out in his native tongue as he braced the cold October breeze, suddenly wishing he brought along a hat.

He heard Aunt Cass call out a shaky, “いってらっしゃい!” He closed the door after him with his foot, more mindful of the chill that could steadily replace what little heat the small home had to spare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Japanese Translation Fun Times!
> 
> いってきます - ittekimasu - I'll be back!
> 
> いってらっしゃい - itterasshai - See you soon!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally going to be over 6,00 words. But that was too much effort, so here's the first 4,000.

The bus ride over to Matsumoto High was uneventful, and Hiro was thankful for that. He had made himself comfortable in his usual seat in the very back of the bus, where he often remained unnoticed throughout the entire route to school. Mr. Landon had often questioned the young prodigy about his decision to sit in the way back when every other seat was open, but Hiro would reassure his favorite driver that he was fine, he would get bus sick if he rode closer to the font. He expertly flowed that lie through his gapped teeth every time, and the old man would hum in understatement and practically inhale another handful of cashews.

Hiro spread himself out on the row of seats, using his backpack as a somewhat decent pillow. He would try lying down every time he and Tadashi would ride the bus to school together, and the older brother would retaliate by pinning him against the window of the bus with his back, spreading his grasshopper legs out across the seats.

“Ahhh... I can see why you’d want to do this. This is nice.” Tadashi had said one day, feeling the buzz of activity from Hiro behind him, who was trying to escape from the heavy weight that his brother had placed on him. Using his feet as leverage, he pushed against the bus’ window, unsuccessfully budging Tadashi from his relaxed position. He leaned heavier on his little brother, ignoring his threats for revenge as he placed his hands behind his head, letting out a fake yawn.

“Get off of me... you no good... rotten brother!” Hiro focused on every muscle of his legs, surprising both brothers when he managed to push Tadashi backwards a smidge. The older brother began to push back, gripping the vinyl seat for support, evening out the force that Hiro had placed on him. “What the...!”

“Newton’s Third Law of Motion, bonehead!” Tadashi began as he felt Hiro’s shoulder muscles quivering behind him, refusing to give up. “‘For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction’!”

“Why can’t we go back to the First Law?!” Hiro cried out, feeling the tread of his sneakers sliding against the window. “‘An object continues to move at a consistent velocity-’”

“‘Unless acted upon by an external force’!” Tadashi corrected him, successfully earning an exhausted groan from his younger brother.

Hiro was suddenly ripped from his happy memory when the sound of a shriek resonated throughout the bus. He shot up, seeing that the bus was filled with teenagers, many of which Hiro had recognized as his classmates. He pulled himself to a sitting position, scrambling to yank his hoodie over his head in an attempt of camouflage. He had never had to worry about being bullied on the bus when he rode with Tadashi. A simple glare from the eldest Hamada could send anyone running with their nonexistent tail between their legs, even the high school quarterback. That was a sight to see. But with Tadashi at college, Hiro had to defend himself from bullies. Sitting in the very back of the bus and hiding his face helped, but his self defense mechanisms didn’t always work, he would still get bombed with food and school supplies every once in a while, and his backpack had been the unfortunate victim of keep away too many times.

The bus suddenly jolted to a stop, dangerously rocking Hiro’s body back and forth. The students began to collect their things as the driver called out,  

“A’ight! Ya’ll have a good day at school now, ya’hear me? I’ll see ya this afternoon!” He received a chorus of “thank you”’s and “have a nice morning” from the teenagers as they began to disembark from the bus. Hiro was the last one to exit, hopping away from the safety that was Mr. Landon’s bus, and throwing himself into the hellish environment that was Matsumoto High.

* * *

If there was something that Hiro hated more than stupid students, it was stupid teachers. Especially those who had to physically look down at him and publicly humiliate him in front of his entire Honors Chemistry class. They were all assigned a lab, a mediocre one by Hiro’s standards, but the teacher absolutely insisted that Hiro sit out this one.

“Your shoes are a complete violation of the lab rules. I’m sorry, Mr. Hamada, but I can’t allow you to participate in todays lab.”

He looked down at his worn out trainers, suddenly embarrassed at the condition that his shoes were in. The permanently browned exterior of the once red Converse wasn’t that bad; he was still a kid, and Tadashi had encouraged him to play in the dirt on multiple occasions. The frayed shoe laces that Aunt Cass fixed with duct tape had gotten him a lot of weird stares on occasion, but the real reason why Mrs. Yamamoto forbade Hiro from entering the laboratory was that the toe cap was beginning to peel. When he wiggled his toes, he could see his blue covered digits waving at him from the sides of his shoes. It never really bothered him up until that point, and Aunt Cass had promised Hiro that they would get him some new shoes soon. But after the new information that he had heard that morning, “soon” was starting to look like “in a really long time”.

“Unless you can find another pair, then you’ll lose today’s attendance credit, and have to make up the lab some other time for a late grade. I’m sorry, but those are my rules.”

He was just about to beg his teacher for a roll of duct tape so he could fix it himself, when a shriek of laughter shot across the room, and a girl stuck up a pair of pink, glittery Toms.

“Will these work for you, Hiro?”

The whole class exploded into laughter. More girls offered their shoes for the youngest student in the junior class to wear, from high heels to Hello Kitty printed sneakers. He wanted to take all of their offered shoes, sprinkle sodium chlorate on them, and douse all of them with sulfuric acid. No, not again. He had been banned from his “independent study” last year when he nearly set the laboratory on fire. When Mrs. Yamamoto tried to calm down her suddenly immature class, Hiro took that as an opportunity to slip away from the excitement.

He didn’t even realize he had drug himself outside until he felt goosebumps prickle on the back of his neck. He clapped an equally cold hand on his neck, then began to rub aimlessly in a futile attempt to repress the bumps. He had somehow managed to slip out of the school completely unnoticed; one of the perks of being eleven years old, he had told himself, anyone could suspect him as a visitor. Finding himself at the picnic tables by the parking lot, Hiro decided to treat himself to an early lunch, not quite ready to face his teacher. Lunch was after Chem, so he wasn’t wasting any time by getting a head start on eating. He swung his backpack off his shoulders as he plopped down, slightly grimacing at the sudden temperature change on his butt. Pulling out the brown paper bag, he glanced over at its contents:

Ham sandwich on whole grain, an orange, some celery sticks and _oh my god is that an éclair_?! He practically tore the bag open at the sight of his favorite dessert, then pulled it out gingerly like it was made out of glass. Eying the oblong pastry eagerly, already deciding to eat it first, he hoped it had been filled with her homemade chocolate custard. Aunt Cass knew that his favorite filling, he practically ate chocolate with, or on, everything. Humming gleefully, he set to unwrapping the éclair from its saran wrap prison, mouth salivating at the very thought of sinking his teeth into the dough. As he did, he noticed a pink square of paper at the bottom of the bag. Recognizing his aunt’s handwriting from a mile away, he plucked the note from between his sandwich and orange.

“ _Things will get better. – Aunt Cass_ ”.

It hadn’t been her intention, not by a long shot, but Hiro suddenly felt guilty by eating something from her stock. She had placed it in his lunch for him to enjoy, a simple act to try and brighten his day. It did, for a while, until the thought of the éclair going unpaid plagued the preteen’s thoughts. Aunt Cass’ éclairs sold for $3.50 a piece, and the financial loss was spiraling down into Hiro’s stomach. He threw the half-eaten pastry back into his bag, guilt weighing down his desire for sugar.

After eating the rest of his meal in silence, he made his way over to the dumpsters to throw his trash away. Then that’s when he heard the sickening collision of metal on metal. He had assumed that it was somehow his fault, then he heard loud cheers. Curiosity taking over him, he peered around the corner, taking extra care to breathe through his mouth. There, he made out five students: two freshman boys, and three super-seniors.

He recognized the girl, Alana, from his Economics class. It was hard to ignore her when her blue ombré hair was practically a spotlight, along with her multitude of facial piercings. The two boys, he hadn’t seen before. She was gripping a controller in her fair hands, grinning as she expertly moved the levers underneath her thumbs, controlling what looked like to be a robotic snake. The younger opponent, struggling to keep up with the snake’s movements, franticly pushed buttons on his own controller, forced his robotic kiwi bird to move forwards on it’s set of toy wheels, attempting to spear the snake’s head with its beak. Alana slyly grinned,

“Fatal mistake.”

The snake’s head snapped away at the last possible second, sending the kiwi bot crashing onto the cement. With it’s beak crushed and with no way of getting up, the fight seemed to be over. At least that’s what Hiro assumed. His eyes widened when Alana snapped down on a button on her controller, and a set of titanium fangs popped out of the snake’s mouth. The boys behind her whooped, while the freshmen began to visibly pale. Without warning, the snake struck the kiwi bird, sinking it’s metal teeth into the bird’s aluminum flesh, then drug its body around, slicing the robot to resemble a slinky. To top it off, it slid its body around the bird’s head, successfully popping it off with a slight squeeze. The owner of the now dead bot looked about ready to cry as Alana grabbed a pile of cash that had been set aside.

“That wasn’t worth my time,” she muttered, thumbing through the meek pile of bills. “You wouldn’t even last a minute in the Underground.” She shot the kids a harsh stare. “Beat it!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. Leaving the carcass of the robot behind, the boys ran away from the seniors, the loser shedding full on alligator tears. Hiro tensed up as they ran past him, but he went completely unnoticed, choosing to focus in on the voices that had started up again.

“How much did y’get?” One of the boys asked.

A ruffle of bills. “Not even enough,” Alana reported, “barely fifty dollars. I swear, these freshies don’t even know the first thing about robotics.”

“They wanna fight,” a deep voice popped in, “but they're too stupid. But the ones who _can_ build decent bots are too goody-goody.”

Alana snorted. “So true, Dallas. Like those stupid bot dorks from that stupid club.”

The trio let out a hoot of laughter. Hiro would’ve defended his brother’s friends, but that meant giving himself away. And the last thing he needed to go home with was another black eye. He then attempted to shuffle away from the bot fighters, not wanting to put Aunt Cass through any more stress if she found he was caught in the middle of _illegal activity_. One of the boys let out a shriek, instantly sending Hiro’s heart fluttering with palpitations.

“ _NEVE_!”

The name of the head robotics coach was enough to perk Hiro’s curiosity again, but when he turned his head to get a glimpse of Tadashi’s old mentor, he was immediately shoved backwards with the force of Alana’s body. He fell along with a group of trash cans, the sound of metal resonating throughout Hiro’s eardrums. He cupped both ears in an attempt to stop them from ringing, when he caught a sympathetic glance from Alana. She quickly mouthed an apology and darted after the others, a lone controller in her hand. He heard Dr. Neve yelling after the seniors, threatening them with suspension if they didn’t get back here right this moment. When they were long gone, he huffed, and began to clean up the scene. Hiro picked himself off the ground, seeing that Alana and her friends had ditched their bots when they had been discovered. He watched they graying man scoop up the remnants of the kiwi bot. He sadly shook his head.

“Such a waste of intellect and creativity,” he lamented. He set to picking up the neglected bots, throwing the snake over his shoulder. “So sad.”

Hiro tensed, his cover blown when his ratty shoe had accidentally kicked a lone soda can. The teacher glanced up from picking up a metal porcupine, noticing the preteen trying to sneak away. “Hiro?” A pleased expression took on his face, then suddenly formed to an inquisitive look. “I hope that you weren’t _bot fighting_.” The last two words seemed to drip out of the teacher’s mouth like venom, as if even saying the word was illegal. Hiro winced at the tone, suddenly thankful that he wasn’t. There’s no telling what kind of lecture he would receive from the Robotics Club’s mentor.

“N-No. I don’t have a bot. I was just watching.”

Pleased with his answer, Dr. Neve continued cleaning up. “It’s a horrible thing, bot fighting. If you have the ability to build a robot, then you have so many doors for you that are wide open. You can do _so_ much with robotics, your brother is a prime example of this.”

Hiro rolled his eyes. Tadashi was without a doubt, Dr. Neve’s favorite student. Tadashi had done so much for the club when he joined as a freshman, staying late every day to learn more about the subject, going over electrical motors and the strength limits of different types of wire. He had passed his knowledge along to Hiro, who in return poured himself into learning everything he could about the subject. He didn’t have access to the materials that Matsumoto did, and that had halted him multiple times during his progress. Tadashi had done everything he could to persuade his brother to join the team, Hiro had really wanted too, he still did in fact. But once he finished his first week of high school last year, it became his primary goal to go unnoticed until he had to graduate. Joining the robotics club would just up his chances of getting beat up or shoved into a locker. Tadashi accepted his brother’s decision, and brought Hiro back a failed project or two, and had given him full access to his lab in the garage. It wasn’t the perfect ending that the brothers had wanted, but in the end, Hiro could still tinker and create, which ultimately was their goal in the first place.

He had completely tuned out of Dr. Neve’s words, more interested in the fate of the robots.

“Oh, these?” Dr. Neve just chuckled when Hiro had asked. “We take them apart, use them for scrap metal and whatnot. Turn something negative into something positive.”

“Does this happen a lot?” Hiro questioned as the two left the trash area.

“Oh, yes,” he admitted sadly. “With the Underground becoming more and more mainstream, so many students are turning their talents into a profit. You can get so much at those fights, thousands upon thousands.”

The preteen’s eyes widened. _Thousands upon thousands_? No wonder so many kids had a sudden interest in bot fights, the payoff definitely outweighed the risk. If Hiro could get his hands on that kind of cash, why he’d-

“Well, it appears we part ways here, Mr. Hamada.”

Hiro glanced up, seeing that they had arrived back at the main building. The warning bell echoed throughout campus, and the preteen could make out the two thousand something students making their way back inside. He inwardly groaned, not looking forward to Economics. Dr. Neve’s warm hand clapped his shoulder, silently reassuring Hiro.

“You have a good rest of your day. Tell Tadashi that I say hello?”

Hiro gripped the straps of his backpack, giving the old man a quick grin. “Yeah. See you, Dr. Neve.” He got one last look at the robots, then ran as fast as his little legs could take him to the other side of the building.

* * *

Alana was _pissed_. If her expression didn’t give it away enough, the steadily growing pile of shredded on her corner of the desk would probably give you some sort of answer. Hiro honestly couldn’t blame her. If something that he had worked hard on had gotten taken away from him for scrap metal, he would most likely be in the same state as the blue haired girl. From the safety of his peripheral vision, he watched Alana wrestle with the pages in her notebook. She would squeeze her thumb and pointer finger between a small selection of paper, then pull back with a good amount of force. She continued her actions until she had created a good sized pile, one that Hiro could easily see becoming a snowball if it weren’t paper. Every time she looked up, Hiro would dart his eyes back to the board, where he pretended to take notes.

The bell rang moments later, sending the students on a frenzy to leave the classroom that smelled _way_ too much like garlic. Hiro shuffled carefully around the hoard, using his height to an advantage in finding the right gaps to squeeze through. He popped into the hallway, and was just about to veer right to his next class, when a hand clapped around his wrist, pulling him in the other direction.

“Hey! What the-?!”

He had no choice but to follow the pull of the hand, though he kept looking at the earliest moment to escape. Other students hardly listened to the pleas of the youngest student, begging for help as he barely dodged elbows and backpacks. When his kidnapper began to drag him down the main staircase, Hiro somehow managed to get a face full of blue... hair?

“Alana?”

She thundered down the staircase, forcing the boy genius to keep up with her as she ignored his questions.

“Where are you taking me?! What’s going on?”

“Just shut up. I’ll explain later.”

He tried to pull away from her clutches, but her vice grip remained as she dragged him over to the East Wing, where she waved down a familiar looking boy, loitering outside a boys bathroom.

“Yo, Jacob! I got the kid!” He grinned a metal smile, adjusting the beanie on his head before he moseyed over to his friend, who was refusing to let go of Hiro’s wiggling arm. Jacob briefly glanced at the kid before whistling,

“Wow, he _is_ tiny. Y’sure this is him?”

“How many other eleven-year-old kids named Hiro go to this school? Of course I got the right kid!”

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?!” Two different hands shot over Hiro’s mouth, shushing him. They briefly glanced around their surroundings, then they dragged him into the bathroom. Alana braced the door with a trashcan while Hiro was held in a two armed grip by Jacob. He stomped his feet, hoping that someone would eventually come to his rescue.

“Keep tryin, kid,” Jacob chuckled, “No one’s used this bathroom in _months_. It’s been ‘closed for repairs’ by yours truly.”

“ _Let me go_!”

He began thrashing, successfully landed a clear kick to Jacob’s shin, who in return howled, releasing Hiro from his grip. He was inches away from the door handle when another pair of arms snaked around his frame, squeezing him tight for good measure. Hiro let out a yell, leaving Alana to shush in his ear.

“Hiro! It’s okay! We’re not gonna hurt you!”

“I don’t believe you! Let me go!”

“We just need you to do something for us, then you can go!”

Hiro tensed, then slowly craned his head, facing Alana’s unusually gentle expression.

“ _What_?”

“Y’heard her,” a familiar voice echoed through the bathroom. “Y’just do somethin’ for us, an’ you’re free to go.”

Hiro had recognized that voice from the dumpsters. Alana carried Hiro to an open stall, then placed him in front of the entrance. Inside, cooly leaning against the wall, was a stout teen, sporting a small stub ‘stash. He flashed a grin at the boy, revealing gold plated canines. He raised a hand.

“Dallas.”

Hiro wasn’t sure weather or not to accept the gesture, after all, he was the one who probably ordered Alana and Jacob to kidnap him on his way to American History. He just glared, fists crabbed into the front pocket of his hoodie. Dallas clicked his tongue in amusement.

“A lil’ shy, bro? Don’ worry, that’s fine.” He lowered his hand to his hip. “Like Alana said, we need a favor from you.”

Hiro cocked an eyebrow. “Like _what_?” He spat out.

“Nothin’ too bad,” he dug around in his back pocket, choosing to let Hiro’s bad attitude slide, “we jus’ need yuh t’go get our bots back for us. Big match in the Underground tonight, an’, well, our bots got snatched.”

Hiro knitted his brows together, trying his hardest not to let his expression falter. But on the inside, he was one step away from breaking out into full-on panic. Breaking into Dr. Neve’s office and retrieving illegal bots, all while remaining unnoticed was about as easy as solving a Rubik's cube with both hands behind your back. He would know, he and Tadashi had tried one summer when the power shorted out and there was _nothing_ to do. He could get into Dr. Neve’s office no problem, but convincing them man to leave was a whole other ballpark.

“We know you and Neve are tight,” Jacob interjected, “Well, at least he was with Tadumbass.”

Hiro tired to shoot the most fatal of looks to him, _how dare he speak about his brother that way_ , but he probably looked just ridiculous, because Jacob and Alana broke out into laughter. Hiro felt his ears flush in embarrassment.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Dallas shouted out, silencing the two. “You go in, get the bots, get out, and _these_ ,” he whipped out two crisp twenties from behind him, “are all yours, my friend.”

Hiro hungrily eyed the bills. Oh, what things he buy with forty dollars. It may have been pocket change for a bot fighter, but for an eleven-year-old, it was a whole two months of allowance just a mere feet away. Every fiber in his being screamed to accept the deal, he could figure out a plan in no time, but his earlier conversation with the teacher came rolling over him. How Dr. Neve hated that students with potential wasted their time on something so pointless. It didn’t seem right for Hiro to go and stab him in the back like that. The angel of good morals sat on one shoulder, and the devil of greed and personal gain sat on the other.

“So?” Dallas waved the money in front of Hiro’s face in temptation. “We got a deal?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't feel my fingers. I've been typing for so long. So worth it.

Hiro didn’t even want to ask how Jacob had gotten the key in the first place. It was one thing to steal teachers keys, but counterfeiting them was a completely different story. He was reassured multiple times that the copy shived out of a tree branch would work, but Hiro honestly didn’t believe them. To his surprise, and relief, the door to Dr. Neve’s office opened when he had turned the wooden key in the lock. He took a deep, shaky breath, then slid into the dark room. He quietly closing the door after him, making sure to lock it. Pulling out the flashlight that Dallas had lent to him for his mission, he flicked the light on, allowing a tiny beam to illuminate a path for his eyes. Time to get searching.

He checked the glowing red numbers on the teacher’s desk every minute as he plowed through the mess. That man was brilliant, the numerous degrees on his wall proved that he had put the time and effort into mastering science and robotics. But if he could put a fraction of that focus into organizing his office, however, Hiro’s job would’ve gone a lot smoother. Every drawer that he opened, it was stuffed full with old papers and office supplies. When found an old magazine that dated from the year Hiro was born, his optimism began to slowly deplete. The man was a packrat, it would take a miracle to find the bots in his mess.

He had reached for the closet door when he heard the faint jingle of keys from down the hallway. Hiro froze, snapping off the flashlight. There had been a number of people that had passed by the room, but it made his heart race all the same. Panic began to rise within him when the jingle grew closer and closer, and stopped in front of the door. Hiro didn’t waste any time. As the door handle began to jiggle, he threw himself into the closet, leaping onto a somewhat sturdy cardboard box. As soon as he closed the door after him, Dr. Neve entered into his office, snapping the light on. Hiro heard him throw something onto his chair, most likely his trademark canvas jacket, then lean back into the chair with a groan. There was silence, then the familiar noises of a computer booting up crept underneath the door. 

Hiro felt his soles begin to slide against the ancient cardboard. He tried to adjust his footing, careful not to make any sort of grunt that would give him away. It was hard to place his feet when he could barely see them. The only source of light was coming from underneath the door, and he didn’t want to find out what would happen if he turned his flashlight on. It was supposed to be a stealth mission. In and out, and he would be forty dollars richer. Hiro never intended to be cornered like this, heart thundering against his ribcage like a trapped bird.

The seconds dragged into minutes, and before he knew it, he had been in the closet for a half hour. The bell for the end of sixth period rang, somewhat sending a wave of relief over the boy. If he remembered correctly, Dr. Neve taught a class seventh period. Hiro would be able to leave his uncomfortable cardboard island soon. But when he heard no movement from the other side of the door, he began to inwardly panic. Why wasn’t he getting up? Did he not have a class after all? Was he going to have to stay in the closet until after school let out? Sweat gathered on his palms as the thought of being stuck for another hour. He heard a phone ring.

“Neve.”

Hiro bit the inside of his cheek in an attempt to calm down as he listened to the teacher speak into the phone.

“Yes, hello, Mr. Montana. ... _What_?!”

Hiro nearly slid off his box at the sudden outburst. He heard Dr. Neve jump up from the chair, scrambling to get his jacket on.

“Well try and turn it off! I don’t care what it takes, no-holds-barred, Mr. Montana! I’ll be there as soon as I can!”

He slammed the phone off, dangerously muttering under his breath as he left the room.

“I should’ve never approved that project! I told her that the Venturi Effect and ping pong balls don’t work together!”

The light went out, the door was slammed, and quickly locked. Hiro waited until Dr. Neve’s hurried footsteps were completely out of earshot before he flicked the flashlight back on. He let out a long, exhausted breath that he had no idea that he had been holding.

“That was _too close_ ,” he muttered as he carefully began his decent. He saw an odd silhouette from the corner of his eye, and quickly aimed his light at the bundle on the floor. There, in an old box, he finally discovered what had put him through so much hell, and what he had been risking his neck for the whole time.

The bots.

“Jackpot.”

* * *

“I shouldn’t even let you see these.”

Hiro perked up from his English homework, hearing the exhausted voice of his aunt down in the living room. They had just finished dinner about a half hour ago, and he was positive that she didn’t sound tired at all earlier. She had been actively prodding the boys for details about their day, throwing in little anecdotes about her customers to help start a conversation. Hiro had just said that his day was “alright” as he poked at the peas on his plate. Tadashi spilled enough news about his time on campus for the both of them, bringing up the highlights of information from his lectures and recalling quotes that his new friends in the lab had said. Hiro was glad that his older brother had roped their aunt in on a story, there was no way he was going to admit to his family that he had broken into Dr. Neve’s office for a group of super seniors. He did bring up the incident in the chemistry lab, and Aunt Cass patted Hiro’s arm, promising him that they would get him some new shoes that weekend.

“I took a nap when I got back, Aunt Cass,” he recognized an equally exhausted Tadashi. He heard papers ruffling, “I promise, I won’t blow up like I did this morning.”

“I don’t mean it like that,” she weakly chuckled, “It’s more like...” She struggled to find the right words. “I shouldn’t be bringing you down with me. I don’t want to add more to your plate.”

He heard him pat his aunt on the shoulder. “You aren’t bringing me down. I chose to help. Now, when did you say you paid this?”

The bills. Of course. He had overheard Tadashi offering his help to Aunt Cass when Hiro had excused himself to do his homework after they had cleaned up after dinner. Normally, he would’ve even cared less about “adult stuff”, but his curiosity about their situation had gotten the best of him that day. He had parked himself at the top of the stairs with his English book in his lap, silently flipping the pages of the assigned reading. Cass and Tadashi began to plow through the bills and bank statements, completely oblivious to their little spy at the top of the stairs. 

“This can’t be right,” Tadashi murmured. Hiro looked up from his homework. He was just about to give up on listening in, they had been silent for a while. Maybe their situation wasn’t as bad as it was made out to be. “I must’ve punched in the numbers wrong.”

“About what? What numbers?”

“This month’s Lucky Cat profits. It says we’re in red.” Hiro felt his heart drop to his stomach. There it was.

“What?” Cass’ voice was full of denial. “Try it again. That can’t be right.”

Hiro held his breath as buttons were pressed on a calculator. Not bothering to mark his place, he put his book to the side, then silently began to crab walk down the stairs. He stopped at his favorite snooping place, one stair behind the wall, where he had the optimum hearing range, all while remaining concealed. He had found out many secrets from his treasured place, like what he was going to get for Christmas or his birthday.

He heard Tadashi let out a slow, frustrated huff. “We’re in a lot of red, Aunt Cass. About $3,500 worth.”

Hiro had to clamp both hands over his mouth, forcing himself to push down the shriek of surprise that threatened to erupt from his throat. Lucky for him, Cass filled in the sound for him.

“$3,500?! Are you _sure_?!”

“I ran the numbers three times. Run them yourself if you don’t believe me.”

“No, I believe you, it’s just... it’s _so much_.” He heard Cass let out a long groan. “How did it pile up that fast?”

Tadashi thumbed through some papers. “Honestly, from what I can see here,” he huffed, “it’s the grocery bill. You’re buying _way_ too much ingredients. Then when the pastries get stale...” He trailed off, knowing that his aunt knew the answer.

“Alright, so if I buy less flour and sugar-”

“It’ll take a lot more than that, Aunt Cass. The utility bill is sky high.”

She hummed in disappointment. “I can’t turn down the heat for the café. The customers will complain if it gets too cold.”

They simultaneously let out an unpleasant noise as they threw their heads back.

“What about the bills for the apartment?” He heard Cass say after an awkward moment of silence. “I’m too scared to look at those.”

Tadashi pulled out a few documents. “They’re not _too_ bad?” His tone gave away that he was trying to hold back a lie. “I mean, they’re not horrible, but...” he trailed off, distracted by something on the electric bill. “Aunt Cass...”

She sadly hummed, knowing she had been caught. “Yes?”

“Is this what I think it is?” Hiro wished that he could peer from behind the wall to get a glimpse at what Tadashi was so flustered about. Aunt Cass sighed.

“Yes. That’s a 15 day notice.”

Tadashi let out a deep grumble from the back of his throat. Hiro could just picture his brother sitting at the table, elbows propped, head down, dangerously raking his fingers through his hair in pure frustration. He had usually formed to that position whenever he felt his anger bubble inside him, it usually kept him from raging out, from saying things he knew he would regret later. Whatever a 15 day notice was, it was enough to send Tadashi fuming. And it obviously didn’t mean anything good for the family. Tadashi took a few shaky breaths.

“What do we do now?” He was still flustered, but he had calmed down enough to continue on with the conversation.

“There’s no ‘we’ in this one, Tadashi,” Cass barely whispered. “Not this time.”

“Why isn’t there?!”

She let out a huff. “Because! How do you expect to bring in any money when you already have a full load? You’re working yourself to exhaustion, Tadashi! I won’t let you be dragged down anymore because we’re a little short on cash!”

“What about that account that mom and dad left for me and Hiro? I-I-I’m _sure_ that if we-”

“That money is set aside for _your education_ ,” Cass firmly stated. “Your parents didn’t intend to leave all of their savings behind just for me to use on my business.”

“I don’t know if you can tell, but we’re in _trouble_ here, Aunt Cass!” Tadashi had slammed his palm on the table for emphasis, causing Hiro to flinch. “What, don’t give me that look! Do you really expect me to just stand here, and watch you struggle?! Tell me what to do, Aunt Cass! Tell me what you expect out of me to help you fix this!”

“I _expect_ you to keep going to school!” Cass suddenly yelled out. Hiro chose this moment to peek from behind the wall. He saw her out of her chair, pacing the living room with her hands tangled in her hair. Tadashi was leaning back, arms crossed, ankle resting on knee, eyebrows dangerously furrowed. “Please, Tadashi, just keep on going to school, and let me handle this for once!”

“How can I pretend that nothing is going on when we’re in debt?!” He shot out of his chair, sending it falling to the floor with a crash. Hiro hugged the wall, clasping his hands together in an attempt to calm himself down. He had never seen his older brother this upset. He usually carried a very calm demeanor around him, he practically radiated positivity and tranquility. Right now, however, he looked like he was one step away from popping a blood vessel. Tadashi strode over to Aunt Cass, looking her dead in the eye. She returned her nephew’s glare. “I know you’ve been struggling for a while, Aunt Cass! What are you gonna do now, huh?! Do you really want to lose the café?! Lose the house?! All because you’re being stubborn about me helping you?!”

“ _I’m not being stubborn_!”

Hiro was taken aback by his caretaker’s sudden shriek, even more when he saw that her eyes were beginning to pool up. Tadashi’s shoulders visibly relaxed when Cass began to frivolously scrub at her eyes. When one tear was wiped away, another two filled its place. She gave up on fighting her emotions and finally allowed herself to weep. Tadashi deflated, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Aunt Cass...”

“I don’t want to lose the café, Tadashi!” She tried hugging herself in an attempt to calm the trembles that began to rack her body. “I don’t want to close down! So many people have lost their businesses from this stupid recession! I don’t want us to be next!”

“And we wont,” Tadashi tried reassuring his aunt, and himself, while gingerly reaching out to clasp her shoulder. She instead latched herself onto her nephew, burring her face into his strong shoulder. He returned her embrace, allowing her to sob.

“What am I going to do, Tadashi?”

He shushed her, rocking them back and forth in an attempt to stop her cries. “We’ll figure something out, Aunt Cass. We always do.”

* * *

Curled up on his bed, back facing the stairs, Hiro aimlessly fidgeted with one of his old action figures. He pressed the worn button on its back, causing it to instinctively punch the air. He absorbed himself with the robotic motion of the arm, trying to block out the sobs that still echoed in his head. He couldn't even remember the last time he saw his aunt cry that hard. She was a strong woman, Hiro wouldn’t doubt that, it took her a lot to get her to shed tears. Up until that point, he had assumed that their money problems would’ve been resolved eventually. The café went through rough patches before in the past. But after seeing the state that his aunt was in, he knew that they were in deeper trouble than he originally thought.

“Hey, knucklehead.” He meekly peered over his shoulder, seeing Tadashi cross the room in his pajamas. He was going to bed before midnight, a rare sight. He must’ve gotten most of his work done at the Institute. “Lights out. It’s after ten.”

Hiro forced his action figure to punch the air one last time, then placed it on his desk with the others. He snapped off the light, mumbling out a “good night” as he curled himself in his blankets.

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” Hiro lied. “Why?”

“You usually beg to stay up longer. Are you alright?”

“I’m _fine_ , Tadashi.” Hiro pulled his blankets a little closer around him, as if the action would shield himself from his older brother’s pestering. “Just drop it.”

But he didn’t. He continued throwing questions at his younger brother, steadily raising his voice. It eventually escalated to a point where Tadashi starting pressing ultimatums on his younger brother, threatening to hide his computer mouse if he didn’t tell him what was wrong.

“Hiro Hamada! Are you even listening to me?! You’d better answer me right now or else I’ll-”

He suddenly shot out of bed, meeting his brother’s glare with one of his own.

“Oh, so now you’re gonna yell at me like you did with Aunt Cass?! Real mature, Tadashi!”

Tadashi went quiet when Hiro fell back onto his pillows. When the room remained silent for a good while, Hiro rose his head to see his older brother sitting cross-legged on his bed, palms pushing against his eyes, fingers tangled through his hair. Tadashi let out a slow sigh,

“You heard us downstairs, didn’t you?”

“The floor isn’t exactly soundproof, y’know.” That wasn’t exactly a lie. After Hiro had retreated back upstairs, he could still hear his aunt’s muffled cries from underneath him as he attempted to continue with his reading.

“How much did you hear?”

“Just how much debt we’re in... And Aunt Cass crying.”

Tadashi let out another groan. He had trying so hard to keep their financial struggle a secret from his little brother. He wouldn’t’ve been surprised if he already knew by now. He scrubbed his face, then peeked at the lump of blankets at the other side of the room.

“Hiro.”

The lump slowly emerged, propping himself up on his elbows. Tadashi gestured with his hand, beckoning his brother to join him on his side of the room.

“こちこち.”

Hiro threw his blankets off his body, then shuffled across the floor to Tadashi’s side of the room. He sat down at the foot of the bed where he had been gestured to sit, then felt a dip beside him as Tadashi sat down.

“Hey.” He lifted Hiro’s chin to meet his gaze. “Listen to me. We’re going to be okay. It may not seem like it now, but we’ll be fine. I’m going to get us out of this.”

“How?” Hiro mumbled, unsuccessfully trying to look down at his feet. “You heard Aunt Cass, she won’t let you put on any more than you have too. And you’re pretty much at your limit.”

“I know,” Tadashi let out a deep sigh, “I heard her. I can’t do anything now, but if we’re not doing any better by Thanksgiving break... I haven’t told her this yet, but I was thinking about taking next semester off and-”

“ _What_?!” Hiro cried out, ignoring the pleas from his brother to lower his voice. “Why?! You love SFIT! Is it too expensive?!”

“Hiro! Calm down! Shhh!” He placed his hands on his brother’s shoulders, waiting for the initial shock to wane from his eyes. “SFIT is great, don’t get me wrong. I’m learning a lot... But if we can’t make ends meet, then I’ll get a job until Aunt Cass can get some debt out of the way. I’m not changing my mind about this, Hiro. My family means more to me right now than a fancy piece of paper.”

Hiro took in his brother’s heavy words, letting his chin drop against his chest. He couldn’t believe what his brother had just told him. He was willing to leave his dream school to ensure that none of them would have to be evicted.

“As for you,” Tadashi forced his brother to look up at him again. “I need you to keep strong, okay? Not just for Aunt Cass, but for yourself. I don’t want you worrying about things that you don’t need too. This is a lot for anyone to take in.”

Hiro let his head lull to the side. It was definitely a huge promise for someone his age. He felt Tadashi softly pick his head up, then extended a pinky towards his brother.

“やくそくする?”

Hiro rolled his eyes. They hadn’t done the yubikiri in years, probably since Tadashi was in middle school. Still, he reached out, interlacing his pinky with Tadashi’s. He matched his older brother’s soft smile, softly uttering,

“やくそくします.”

* * *

Hiro jumped off the bus the next morning with more resolve than he ever felt in his life. After sleeping on the events that had happened last night, he woke up with with guilt weighing down his stomach like lead. His family was struggling, and all Hiro could do was watch. There was legally nothing he could do to help relieve their financial burden, so he decided to step into the forbidden territory.

He strode to the East Wing of the school, refusing to stop for anything or anyone until he reached the bathroom he had been drug into yesterday. He delivered three solid knocks on the door, and was thankful to see Alana’s pierced face when she creaked the door open.

“What’s up?”

“Let me in. I need to ask Dallas something.”

She briefly checked their surroundings, then hurriedly ushered the preteen inside. Hiro saw Dallas sitting in one of the sinks, scrubbing at his bots scratched surface with a greasy rag. He glanced up, cocking a smile.

“Sup?”

“You know that favor you promised me yesterday?”

“Yeah,” Dallas replied, letting his mind travel to when Hiro returned the bots back to the group yesterday.

“I owe you big time, lil’ man!” He had engulfed the boy’s tiny neck with his arm, letting out a deep laugh. “You have no idea how much this means to me! If you need _anything_ , let me know, okay? I’ll take care of you!”

“Well,” Hiro sheepishly scratched the back of his leg with his ruined sneaker. “I’m using it now.” Dallas suddenly stopped polishing his bot, looking up into Hiro’s determined eyes. “I need you to teach me how to bot fight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're starting to get into the fun chapters soon!
> 
> Japanese Translation Fun Times!
> 
> こちこち - kochi kochi - come over here
> 
> やくそくする - yakusoku suru - you promise?
> 
> やくそくします - yakusoku shimasu - I promise.


	4. THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER IM SORRY

So I'm not sure how many of you follow me on tumblr (hint hint its murphystarr y'all should go check it out wink wonk), but I posted something a few weeks ago that really pertains to this lil' story o'mine.

I'm currently in London for study abroad. I'm the first in my family to study overseas, so it's a pretty exciting time for all of us. It's also been a lifelong dream of mine to go to London, and the fact that I'll be staying right in the heart of the city makes me even more excited for this amazing opportunity that pretty much fell into my lap. It would hurt so much to reject it; I almost did, but that's another story for me to probably never tell.

That being said, there will be a very little chance that His Reason will receive an update this month. I want to go out and explore the city when I'm not in class, not glued to my laptop like I've spent all winter break. (sorry mom and dad) I'll try my hardest to get some of chapter 4 written, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, and I'd really hate to waste it.

Thank you so much in advance for understanding. I hope you all have a fantastic month of January. Stay warm whenever you may be!

Cheers!


End file.
